Guitar steel



Feb. 3, 1948. w. H. RICHMOND GUITAR STEEL Filed Nov. 6, 1944 INVENTOR. William H. Richmond P IHJ'ZJ Aug Patented Feb. 3, 1 948 GUITAR STEEL William H. Richmond, Piedmont, Calif., assignor to Richmond-Walker Manufacturing Company, Oakland, Calif, a copartnership Application November 6, 1944, Serial No. 562,107

1 Claim. 1

The invention relates to an implement usually called a guitar steel and designed to be held in the hand of a guitar player for use in dampening the vibrations of the strings during the course of playing the instrument. The steel is generally in the form of a small metal cylinder and arranged to be supported in the left hand between the base of the thumb and the tip of the forefinger, the contact being made with ends of the cylinder. In order that the steel will have better engagement with the strings and afford finer selectivity thereof, the end of the steel arranged for engagement with the forefinger is made more or less rounded. This rounding however makes uncomfortable and difficult the retention of the hold of the finger on the steel, and as a result the steel will frequently slip from the fingers and spoil the performance. It is therefore an object of the present invention to so design the steel that the end of the steel arranged to be held by the forefinger will not only afford the desired string engagement and selectivity aforesaid, but may be readily and securely held by the said finger without danger of the steel slipping from engagement with the finger.

Another object of the invention is to provide for the improved retention of the steel by the forefinger without interfering with the efficacy of the steel for playing, or without adding appreciably to the expense of making the steel.

The invention possesses other object and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawings and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claim.

Referring to said drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of the steel showing it as held in the hand and operatively associated with the strings.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the steel.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the steel.

Figures 4 and 5 are elevational views of the opposite ends of the steel,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view, partly in elevation, showing a somewhat modified form of the rounded end of the steel.

Figure 7 is an end view of the steel shown in Figure 6.

As shown in the drawings, the steel 2 is formed with cylindrical sides 3 and end portions 4 and 5, and is preferably constructed as a one-piece solid member of metal, such as steel. The end portion 5, which is the one designed to be held by the tip of the forefinger as illustrated in Figure 1, is gradually reduced in thickness from the sides-3 so as to provide a mooth rounded surface 3 continuing to the adjacent end of the steel. In contrast to the end portion 5, the end portion 4 is preferably formed as a, cylindrical extension of the sides 3.

The surface 6 of the steel, as will be clear from Figures 2 and 3, terminates at its outer extremity at an end face 1 which is preferably generally perpendicular to axis of the cylinder. Necessarily the face 7 is relatively small in order to provide ample length of the curved surface 6 for contact with the guitar strings (indicated at 8 in Figure 1), and as a means of providing for an increased area of engagement between the end of the steel and the finger, the face "i is made definitely concave so as to provide a cavity in which a portion of the finger may fit. If desired, the face I may be formed with serrations 9 or otherwise roughened, as shown in Figures '7 and 8, to thereby provide a relatively non-slip surface for engagementwith the finger.

It will now be evident that by the simple expedient of providing the cavity at the tip of the rounded end of the steel, a firm grip upon the steel will be afforded the forefinger without requiring undue pressure to be exerted by the finger to prevent the steel from slipping out of engagement therewith. This effective engagement with light pressure is of considerable importance, in that not only will less surface of the string engaging surface 6 be covered by the finger, but the player will be afforded greater sensitiveness in the application of the steel to the strings.

The end face It! of the steel, that is the one which is designed to engage the portion of the hand at the base of the thumb, is also formed concave; however, since this end face is relatively large and the portion of the hand arranged to be engaged by this end of the steel readily forms a pocket for retaining the same in place, a convex or fiat face may be used if desired without danger of the steel slipping.

A indicated by the numeral I I the substantially cylindrical portion extends from the end t to substantially the line II. From the line H the tapered or curved surface 6 begins, and this curved surface extends to the concave portion 1, all as indicated in the several figures. It is this curved surface 6 that may be used to engage one or more of the strings 8 of the instrument, as shown in Figure 1.

Said portion which extends from the line I I to the concave portion 1 is rounded, also as shown in the several figures and as heretofore described.

I claim:

A guitar steel of substantially cylindrical form and having ends, said steel being of substantially uniform diameter from one end to a line spaced from the other end, the diameter of the steel from said line to said other end being gradually reduced to provide a curved surface extending in 2,184,733

from said line to said second end, said second REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Burgien Dec. 26, 1939 Carter May 16, 1933 Number 

